The mainstream media seems to love portraying President Donald Trump as an enemy of the free press — a claim that he sometimes plays into, judging by his frequent criticisms of outlets like CNN and use of the term “fake news.”

In contrast, former President Barack Obama’s administration was often presented as open and transparent. But those two narratives may be incredibly inaccurate, at least if the political director for ABC News is correct.

Earlier this week, ABC’s Rick Klein, who has covered Washington politics since 2004, made a stunning statement to CBN News: Despite his reputation, Trump is actually more open with the media than Obama or former President George W. Bush.

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“In terms of just the access to the thinking of the president and what the president is doing, this White House is above and beyond, far and away more accessible,” the political veteran confirmed.

“The amount of the information flowing out of the president himself, not to mention the White House itself, is unparalleled,” Klein said.

A lot of that comes from social media including Twitter. While Trump has been widely criticized for using the online platform too often, the ABC News political director admitted that this has changed the face of news and will impact how future administrations communicate with the public.

“Klein acknowledged Trump’s savvy ability to control the media narrative and when asked if Trump has changed the way future presidents and politicians will communicate, he answered without hesitation: ‘100 thousand percent,'” CBN reported.

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“In every way that I can think about he’s changed the way that a president communicates: the way a president articulates positions, the way the president communicates with world leaders as well as the public,” Klein continued.

To the chagrin of the left, that has allowed Trump to frequently control the narrative by taking a direct approach to communicating his message to voters.

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“He used the megaphone of Twitter and also kind of informal statements and media availability in and around his day-to-day in such a radically different way,” the Washington insider said.

Democrats, meanwhile, seem to be struggling to have their message heard.

“I’ve talked to more Democratic politicians who wish we would stop covering Trump entirely and focus instead on the issues that separate Democrats from Republicans,” Klein stated.

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In other words, Trump is beating the left at their own game: He has woven his message into the culture, using a platform — Twitter — that is well documented as being politically leftist.

“They have to adjust to this environment just like we have,” Klein said of Democrats playing catch-up. “President Trump is this force. He has changed everything.”

Once again, Trump’s critics have completely underestimated him and missed the genius, or at least the effectiveness, of what he is doing.

They laughed at him in the primary, and then he beat every other Republican candidate. They scoffed at his chances against Hillary Clinton, saying it was impossible for him to win. He did.

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Now they’re mocking him for speaking bluntly and using common platforms like Twitter to communicate, bypassing the establishment gatekeepers.

Whether the left will realize that they’re losing the messaging and media battle soon enough to make any difference in the midterms and in 2020 remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: The narratives spread by the media are falling apart, and they seem to be the last people to understand why.

Benjamin Arie is an independent journalist and writer. He has personally covered everything ranging from local crime to the U.S. president as a reporter in Michigan, before focusing on national politics. Ben frequently travels to Latin America and has spent years living in Mexico.
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Benjamin Arie has been a political junkie since the hotly contested 2000 election. He attended Florida State University and informally majored in women’s studies, primarily the sorority on the other side of his dorm.
After giving rickshaw driving and nightclub management a go, Ben settled on journalism after realizing he could get paid to rant. He cut his teeth on car accidents and house fires as a small-town reporter in Michigan before becoming a full-time political writer.
Benjamin had a front row seat to the 2016 campaign circus while covering angry protesters and Donald Trump’s nomination at the GOP convention in Cleveland, which cemented his view that half of the country is insane. He has lived as an expat in Latin America, and enjoys piloting gliders and scuba diving when he can get away from the grind.